SAN FRANCISCO, Nov 17 ― Prime Minister Datuk Seri Anwar Ibrahim had bilateral meetings with Vietnam’s President Vo Van Thuong and Peru’s Dina Ercilia Boluarte Zegarra on the sidelines of the 2023 Asia Pacific Economic Cooperation (Apec) Economic Leaders’ Meeting (AELM) here.

The bilateral with Vo Van was upon the request of Hanoi, and Boluarte on Malaysia’s request.

Vietnam is Malaysia’s 12th largest trading partner globally, and it is also the country’s fourth largest trading partner in Asean after Singapore, Indonesia and Thailand.

In 2022, total bilateral trade continued to increase by 16.4 per cent to US$19.44 billion (RM91 billion) from US$16.7 billion in 2021.

In terms of investments, Malaysia is Vietnam’s 10th largest investor after Singapore and Thailand.

Meanwhile, the total trade between Malaysia and Peru from January to June 2023 was US$168.45 million, an increase of 12.8 per cent from US$155.97 million recorded in the same period in 2022.

The United States will be passing the Apec host year responsibilities to the South American country Peru next year.

Also present during the meetings were Minister of Investment, Trade and Industry, Datuk Seri Tengku Zafrul Abdul Aziz, Minister of Foreign Affairs, Datuk Seri Zambry Abd Kadir, Malaysia’s Ambassador to the United States Datuk Seri Mohamed Nazri Abdul Aziz and Member of Parliament, Sim Tze Tzin.

Besides the two bilateral meetings, Anwar, who arrived here on November 13 (Monday) is also scheduled to partake in the Apec Leaders’ Informal Dialogue and Apec Business Advisory Council (ABAC) Dialogue with Leaders.

The ABAC Dialogue is hosted by the Vice President of the United States (US), Kamala Harris.

The prime minister will also be in the informal dialogue with Columbia, Fiji and India and the second Indo-Pacific Economic Framework (IPEF) Leader’s Meeting today.

Later in the day, he will be attending the Apec Economic Leaders’ dinner hosted by US President Joe Biden.

The US and Malaysia are among the 12 founding members of Apec. The others are Australia, Brunei, Canada, Indonesia, Japan, South Korea, New Zealand, the Philippines, Singapore and Thailand.

China, Hong Kong, Taiwan, Mexico and Papua New Guinea followed in 1993. Chile acceded in 1994 and in 1998, Peru, Russia and Vietnam joined, taking the full membership to 21 countries.

Apec countries house close to 3 billion people, and made up 62 per cent of the world's Gross Domestic Product (GDP) and 48 per cent of world trade in 2021. ― Bernama